Azaleas on Turtle Creek
Thousands of spring flowers brighten the paths along Turtle Creek through the suburb of Highland Park, north of downtown.
To see the color up close, take a stroll through Lakeside Park on Lakeside Drive.
Then head to Highland Park Village for lunch outdoors at Patrizio. The popular Italian restaurant is tucked away in a quiet corner of the elegant shopping center. But you'll feel welcome, even if you've been out for a hike all morning. Try the spicy grilled Italian sausage dish, Penne Arrabbiata ($7.81). Don't miss the delicious Pane Budino--a chocolate-chip and rum raisin bread pudding ($4.43).
Blossoming at the Market
Morning is the best time to visit the busy downtown Dallas Farmers Market, a little piece of the country that thrives in
the heart of the city. Jars of honey and bags of aromatic onions fill tables beneath brightly colored roofs at the open-air
market. You can even find watermelons here in March--trucked in from the Rio Grand Valley.
Start your day with a hearty breakfast of migas (eggs scrambled with tortillas and peppers; $3.75-$6.95) at Casablanca Cocina. Afterward, stroll through the impromptu garden that appears in late March when nursery operators put out thousands of flowering bedding plants. The blossoms turn entire blocks around the market into a Texas-size palette of colors.
"Spring is always the best season in Dallas. People get cabin fever, and they're ready for a change," says Stan Miklis, owner of Caliper, a nursery located in the Dallas Farmers Market.
"What I try to do is offer new and different colors--things you can't find anywhere else," says Stan, who stocks the nursery with plants he grows in 28 greenhouses at his farm in Royse City. He earned his degree in horticulture from Texas A&M University and remains partial to plants with maroon and white flowers. "We have maroon and white impatiens. We sell a lot of those colors out of this store," he says.
No matter what colors you root for, when sunny days chase away winter's chill and flowers are all around you, it's a winning season in Big D.
Shopping and Dining
Outdoor dining is popular at Lombardi's, Landry's, and many of the other restaurants on Market Street in the West End Historic
District downtown. (Be sure to feed the parking meters. They operate well into the evening hours, and parking police are extremely
attentive.) Elsewhere around town, cowboy-chic Star Canyon serves sophisticated Southwestern fare and, at lunch, the best
chicken-fried veal steaks ($10) in Dallas; (214) 520-7827. Near Love Field, the original Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse at 2202
Inwood Road looks like a total dive, but the brisket, sausage, and pork ribs are delicious and the homemade sauce will make
your day. Serving stops when the barbecue runs out, so get there early for lunch. Closed Sunday; (214) 357-7120.
If you're ready for a rest, hop aboard one of the McKinney Avenue electric trolleys that run from the downtown Arts District to the new West Village restaurant and retail center. There are more than 60 shops, restaurants, and other attractions, from Legacy Trading Company, with its hip clothing and decorating accessories, to the Magnolia, a five-screen theater, which shows a variety of movies.
